Bomberman Legends

Bomberman Legends
Mockup cover art
Developer(s)Genetic Fantasia
Publisher(s)Atari Corporation
Programmer(s)Jeremy Mika
Mike Mika
Robert Baffy
Artist(s)Jeff Burke
SeriesBomberman
Platform(s)Atari Jaguar
ReleaseUnreleased
Genre(s)Action, maze, party
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Bomberman Legends, also known as Jaguar Bomberman, is an unreleased action-maze video game that was in development by Genetic Fantasia and planned to be published by Atari Corporation for the Atari Jaguar.[1][2] It was going to be a unique entry in the Bomberman franchise, featuring its own dedicated single-player and multiplayer modes, with the latter having support for up to eight players by using two Team Tap adapters.[3][4]

The idea of creating a Bomberman title for the Jaguar was primarily hatched by Genetic Fantasia, which was a development company that was formed by Mike Mika,[5] along with his colleagues to Atari Corp. during a behind-the-scenes meeting at Las Vegas in 1994, with the team looking at Super Bomberman 2 in order to replicate its gameplay mechanics on the system.[3][6][7]

Though Atari acquired the license of Bomberman from Hudson Soft between 1994 and 1995, the project would be discontinued by the former sometime in 1996 along with other upcoming projects for the platform such as Black ICE\White Noise and Thea Realm Fighters,[3][8] due to Atari preparing to drop support for the Jaguar before merging with JT Storage in a reverse takeover on April of the same year.[1][9][10] Bomberman Legends was never previewed or mentioned in magazines and other publications at the time when the title was still being developed, until its existence was revealed during an online Q&A session hosted by Next Generation in April 1998.[11][12] The game was also thought to be lost, before its source code was eventually recovered in recent years by two of the original programmers of the title.[13]

  1. ^ a b Reutter, Hans. "Unreleased Or Unfinished Jaguar Games - Jaguar Bomberman". cyberroach.com. Archived from the original on 2017-10-01. Retrieved 2018-10-28.
  2. ^ "Midway, Hacking Donkey Kong, Atari - Mike Mika - The Retro Hour EP237 (1h 6min 20sec)". theretrohour.com. August 14, 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-08-14. Retrieved 2020-08-14.
  3. ^ a b c Larrabee, Kevin (July 5, 2014). "Episode 30: Mike Mika's Time Machine (Part I)". backinmyplay.com. Archived from the original on 2018-08-25. Retrieved 2018-10-28.
  4. ^ Campen, Matt; Lang, Dave; Wisner, Darryl (May 18, 2020). "S3E021 – Generating Fake Bytes". Team GFB Radio. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  5. ^ "Who We Are". Video Game History Foundation. Archived from the original on 2018-06-13. Retrieved 2018-10-28.
  6. ^ Wallett, Adrian (January 27, 2017). "Mike Mika (Atari) – Interview". arcadeattack.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 2018-10-28.
  7. ^ "Jaguar Explorer Online - Volume 3, Issue 2". atarihq.com. November 19, 1999. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-22.
  8. ^ "ProNews: Atari Axes New Games". GamePro. No. 79. IDG. February 1996. p. 17.
  9. ^ "Atari and JT Storage Reorganisation Plan". onecle.com. Archived from the original on December 9, 2006. Retrieved 2018-10-28.
  10. ^ "ATARI CORP Annual Report (Regulation S-K, item 405) (10-K405) ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS". Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-09-27.
  11. ^ "Jaguar Explorer Online - Volume 2, Issue 2". atarihq.com. July 20, 1998. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 2018-10-28.
  12. ^ fsporsche (June 16, 2008). "Jag Bomberman completed..." atarihq.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2010. Retrieved 2018-10-28.
  13. ^ Mika, Mike (May 25, 2014). "We may have just found the long lost Jaguar Bomberman". Twitter. Archived from the original on 2018-09-25. Retrieved 2018-10-28.